Members of the Executive Council could vote next week on the first broad increase in the state’s highway tolls in more than a decade. The plan would spare in-state commuters the brunt of the hikes.

Under a proposal, the cash toll rate on I-93 in Hooksett would go from $1.00 to $1.50. On the Spaulding Turnpike, the Dover and Rochester tolls would rise to $1.00 from $0.75. In Hampton, the Interstate 95 toll would increase from $2.00 to $2.50.

As of nine o’clock Friday night, motorists no longer had to pay tolls at exit 12 in Merrimack.

The change was included in the state’s new gas tax law, in order to relieve Merrimack residents who had to pay tolls at all three exits in town.

Bill Boynton with the state’s transportation department says after Friday, the exit 12 toll plaza’s three full time employees will begin working at adjacent plazas. Next month, he says, the state will ask companies to bid for the job of removing the toll plaza, at a cost of about $600,000.

New Hampshire's open-road tolling in Hooksett and the new Memorial Bridge have received honors in engineering. They've received "National Recognition Awards'' from the American Council of Engineering Companies. Both projects presented engineering challenges and both were constructed and completed on very aggressive schedules. The Hooksett project, which opened in May of 2013, involved the demolition of six conventional toll lanes and the construction of four lanes of highway speed toll lanes, plus other work.

Have you ever wondered why there are toll booths on the interstates in New Hampshire and Maine and not in Vermont?

Under federal law, those states are allowed to impose tolls because they used a considerable amount of their own money to build their interstates. But states like Vermont, that used a lot of federal money to build the roads, aren’t allowed to charge tolls.

This could change soon because the White House is backing a plan to allow all states to charge an interstate toll if they want to. Congressman Peter Welch supports the change.